Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) is three months into the first hire for its first Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP). A KTP is a UK Government scheme funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through Innovate UK, the government's innovation agency. KTPs link forward thinking businesses with the UK's world class knowledge bases to deliver innovation projects led by inspired graduates.
Each KTP collaboration has three partners: the business, the graduates, and the academics. These three partners work together, via a KTP, on an innovation project of strategic importance to the business. This, AUB’s first KTP, is in collaboration with Poole-based high-performance outerwear brand, ThruDark. Recently listed in The Sunday Times Hundred 2024 as one of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies, the innovation project being delivered supports ThruDark’s mission to lead a digital clothing revolution.
The KTP’s aim is to digitally transform ThruDark's new product development process to realise growth potential and reduce its carbon footprint. The key objectives of the project are to improve the productivity of new product development by 33%, improve garment fit and therefore reduce the number of product returns by 35%, whilst also reducing the number of samples required to develop new products by 50%.
The successful KTP was announced at the end of 2024, with the next step being to hire someone to work on the project with them. Fast-forward a few months, and we meet the new hire, AUB BA (Hons) Fashion graduate, Kyra Gibson.
“When I saw this position advertised, I knew I had to apply. I’ve always loved being involved with new, cutting-edge projects and technologies, so this fit the bill perfectly. In the last few years since graduating from AUB in 2021, I’ve been lucky enough to secure some incredible roles in digital fashion and innovation that have really helped me secure this exciting new position.
“Straight after graduating, I applied for the Digital Innovation intern role at AUB’s Innovation Studio, which was just opening at the time. The role was developing and delivering industry focused innovation outreach activity across the University. I also led a research and development project: exploring how skills within the following – 3D Body Scanning, Virtual Reality Technologies and Unreal Engine (TM) – can be integrated into Fashion PLM workflows and how these may be used collaboratively alongside programmes such as CLO 3D.
“CLO 3D is something that I started using at AUB. I was on the course when COVID-19 hit, it was very sudden, and we just pivoted to learning at home. The project we were working on went completely digital and that’s when I found my love for 3D. CLO 3D is a great tool for aiding with sustainability initiatives, enabling digitisation of parts of the product process, reducing the need for multiple samples and also reducing fabric waste.
“Working in the Innovation Studio at AUB meant we had access to the VR suite and things like the digital loom. I helped run the VR workshops, started to run body scanning workshops, and I also ended up learning quite a few new pieces of software during that time like Twinmotion and Unreal Engine. I also started to work on virtual showrooms and testing pipelines and then started doing CLO 3D workshops.
“During my time in the Innovation Studio, I also worked with Penelope Norman, digital fashion practitioner and Course Leader on MA Digital Fashion Innovation at AUB, on her MA project. I created a virtual showroom which showcased her work on UK sizing standards. Penny was researching all the issues with digital fit, and I worked alongside her to create this space which could visually demonstrate her research. And that project then got showcased with CLO 3D, the actual software company, at one of their academic summits.
“From there, I decided that I wanted to go and work in a fashion brand. I went on to work as a 3D technologist at Burberry for two years. I worked within product engineering in the supply chain to utilise digital fashion technologies such as CLO 3D in the product process. And then I saw this KTP position advertised.”
Benjamin Hewitt, Product Director at ThruDark, comments, “Kyra came to us with a vast amount of knowledge that we didn’t have as a business. She’s coming in fresh, with new ideas; she’s only been here a few months. She’s already planted some very exciting seeds, and not just in the areas we expected! For example, our marketing team are loving that Kyra can give them digital images of new garments that are good enough to use for socials in a fraction of the time it would take for a photoshoot to deliver. It’s like she’s got a little black box of dark arts!
“It’s easy as a business to become institutionalised when you’re doing the same thing day in and day out. Having a Kyra on the team with fresh eyes and all that knowledge means we can fully embrace these new technologies and innovations, streamline and improve our business, and showcase to others what can be done. And the ripple effects don’t stop with us; we’re now speaking with our suppliers, checking patterns, and standardising fit. Suppliers are notorious for not sharing patterns, so we’ve supplied templates and set up a block library.
“All we want to do is make amazing products that work. Testing is the only way we can make sure our products are perfect, and all these new technologies allows for more testing time which means more perfection! We’re using science to make art.”
Penelope Norman, the project’s Knowledge Base Lead and the KTP’s academic, says, “By digitising the design, sampling, and prototyping workflows, creating virtual prototypes on avatars from brand models and physical patterns, ThruDark will be able to adopt a more inclusive approach to consumers. This will not only reduce physical samples and shorten the time to market for new products but also significantly reduce the company's carbon footprint, leading to substantial sustainable gains and economic growth.
“A huge 80% of a garment’s environmental impact can be addressed at the design stage. It is my goal to help designers and product developers in the fashion industry make a positive impact through the implementation of digital design, prototyping and production methods, and to educate graduates to support and drive these positive changes in the industry.”
Kyra adds, “This project is all about collaboration and innovation, which we need to see more of in any industry to help resolve problems, improve efficiencies, and to make more sustainable businesses. This has already been an incredible experience for me, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what the rest of the project delivers.”
